You and me both.
Then again, Frontier taught me that I don't like any Digimon who's strength is derived from making sure no other Digimon can help :I

Frontier had such great designs for the heroes and then EmpeorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon showed their faces. It's bad enough they needed ALL the sprirts, but they kept getting their asses kicked on top of that too!

Pretty much why I hated Frontier from Lucemon's introduction onward.

Yeah from that point on pretty much all of the others were useless. Which is a shame because I like everyone up to that point. I even love the Emperor and Magna designs, they were really awesome but leaving all of the others without spirits was just such a bad idea.

It was a big shame. I loved a good chunk of the designs, and the Koichi/Darkness Spirit story really drew me in and I was starting to enjoy the series overall. Then he became part of the wallpaper and did nothing for the rest of the series...

It's actually why I'm not a big fan of Xros Wars either. It's ALL about Shoutmon. Ballistamon, Dorulumon, Starmon, Cutemon, etc. They do nothing except let Shoutmon get stronger.

Digimon, I think suffers from not being consistent in evolutions. From one form to another, it's hard to really keep track of it all. Throw in stupid crap like Emperor and Magna in Frothier, and it's easy to see that Digimon is a show that needs a steady hand.

But then again, you gotta keep things fresh, right?

Actually, that's one of the better things about it.
Agumon becomes Greymon becomes MetalGreymon becomes WarGreymon.
I don't think you realize just how soul crushingly boring that is when you factor in the Digital Pets, Card Games, and Video Games.
The original point of Digimon was that raising and growing them in different ways yielded different results.

If the anime just stuck with "All Agumons MUST become Greymon", then characters would get stale (Just remember about Tai forcing Greymon to Evolve, resulting in SkullGreymon, showing that even the main Digimon have split evolution paths). And Frontier isn't even the first. Adventure 02's DigiArmors/DigiMentals, Meggidramon and Gallantmon/Dukemon in Tamers, etc.
Even the entire concept of the Royal Knights wouldn't exist without this (They were created by ImperialDramon: Paladin Mode, and two members are UlForceVeedramon and Magnamon. All three of these characters are possible evolutions of Veemon.)

Greymon, MetalGreymon (Virus and Xros versions), WarGreymon, SkullGreymon, BlackWarGreymon, ChaosBlackWarGreymon, GeoGreymon, RizeGreymon, ShineGreymon (Burst and Ruin), VictoryGreymon, BlackGreymon, EmperorGreymon, AncientGreymon, RampageGreymon, ZekeGreymon, DeckerGreymon, MegaDeckerGreymon...

Digimon isn't a series about consistency and uniformity. This is visible in the Wonderland esque Digital World itself, which is a chaotic mess. Once you pin the line down and say "Agumon MUST evolve into Greymon who MUST evolve into MetalGreymon" is the moment you kill all the creativity. Yes, the main kids' Digimon follow a specific path, but usually it's something new (Saver's Agumon's GeoGreymon line, for example), and the background/side Digimon grow or change in a different manner too (For example, if we didn't have the multiple lines, Ophanimon wouldn't come into existence, since Magnadramon would have set in stone AngeWoman's Mega form).

Thinking Digimon needs a steady hand to "Guide it" shows that you don't quite 'get' it (And please don't take this as being condescending or rude). Digimon as a franchise shows that you don't need a consistent form of storytelling. You can approach it from all angles and all attitudes without shifting the overall feel away from the base. Be it the "Alice in Wonderland" story of Adventure to the more dark and serious Tamers, Digimon is a series that sticks around without becoming the same shonen dreck just by virtue of how different each series has the possibility to be, because of the freedom it has, because of it's chaos.

In my opinion, there are 3 quintessential Digimon series to watch.
1. Digimon Adventure, not only to see where it began, but to see just how strange the Digimon World really is (Which is sadly not expanded upon much in 02)
2. Digimon Tamers. A very different series, but keeping with the general tone of Digimon. Much more serious that, while on first glance may just seem shallow, you really have to look into some of what you're given, rather than explicitly stated, to truly understand.
3. Digital Monster X-Evolution. Not a series, but a standalone movie. It's told from the perspective of a Digimon (No humans, whatsoever), and how the mess that is the Digital World truly shines.

@Matrixbeast: I like change a lot, but trying to keep track of all the different forms a Digimon can turn into, PLUS figuring out who can become who, and it became a big part of why I fell out of love with Digimon as a whole. When I was younger I could follow up on that with more ease, but now as a adult who has to take care a ailing grandparent, I'd like things to follow at least one Golden Rule as it were.

I respect your opinion on Digimon, it's just gotten too hard to keep track of for me. Since I have to do things for my family, plus writing and playing games, I don't have a ton of free time to just research everything about Digimon.

Still, I'm glad we're getting a Xors Wars over here, but I'm not too thrilled about DigiXors as a whole, plus Saban isn't my favorite person NOR company.

you do know UlForceVeedramon came from the digimon adventure manga that feature a Taichi that not the same as the Taichi fromt the anime and focus more on the digital pet game that the anime was based off

Someone else remembers the awesome that was X-Evolution?!